The present application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/364,022, filed on Mar. 15, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to, among other things, utility vehicles such as, for example, skid steer vehicles having extendable utility booms and/or other mechanisms.
2. Discussion of the Background
There are a variety of known utility vehicles having extendable utility booms and/or other mechanisms. These utility vehicles are often used for construction and/or other utilitarian purposes, such as, e.g., for lifting, pushing, scraping, digging, plowing and/or various other purposes. In many instances, the vehicles include a) a main body having at least one seat for a vehicle operator (such as, for example, a seat located within a protective cab), b) wheels and/or other supports mounted on the body portion for supporting the same, and c) a utility mechanism mounted to the vehicle (such as, e.g., via a utility boom). In some illustrative cases, the utility mechanism(s) can include, e.g., one or more of the following: a) an auger; b) a backhoe; c) a dozer blade; e) a bucket; f) a fork (e.g., for pallets, manure or the like); g) a grinder; h) a rake; i) shears; j) a roller; k) spike (e.g., for bails of hay or the like); l) a jig boom; m) a broom; n) a scraper; o) a tree spade; p) a plow; q) a mower; r) a trencher; s) a four-in-one bucket; and/or various other utility mechanisms. In some instances, the vehicle is adapted such that various utility mechanisms can be replaced, interchanged, upgraded and/or the like. In this manner, a basic vehicle can be adapted or configured to perform specific tasks (such as, e.g., by attaching a new utility mechanism to the vehicle).
Because these vehicles are often used for work related purposes, ease-of-adaptability and/or configurability can be advantageous (such as, e.g., to enable full use of equipment, to save time, to enhance functionality and/or various other possible advantages). Nevertheless, existing devices have limitations making configuration of the device to match a user's needs and/or for other purposes more difficult.
There remains a need for, among other things, vehicles having improved configurability, such as, e.g., improved control configurability to achieve a desired purpose or result.